master from colorado. and he spoke about how his troop wanted to have a very special american flag. so they bought one with gold tassels around the outside. they sent it to be flown above the capitol, he said the boys were so proud knowing it was going up and they saw it explode on tv. and he contacted nasa to see if they found any remnant of the flag. nothing. he called for months still nothing. then he was reading an article and they mention t something about a flag. hell called nasa and they said we have a presentation to make to you and your boys. so they came together and they were presented with this

container and he said we opened the container and there was our flag in perfect condition. [applause] and then he said that's it on the flag pole next to mr. romney. and i reached over and pulled out the flag and it was as if electricity was running through my arm. because i thought about the people on that mission and thought about the people in our space program that put themselves in harm's way recognizing they are promoting learning, pioneering for us. they give of themselves to others. our men and women in uniform give and have given of themselves for us to protect our freedom to promote our prosperity and way of life. there are so many heroes in our society.

it's part of the american experience to live for something bigger than yourself. i think we're a nation of heroes. they say being a hero is not being bigger than life, it's being bigger than yourself. and americans live for things bigger than themselves. i think of all the single moms who right now are scrimping and saving to make sure they have a good meal to put on the table at the end of the day for their children. my sister is in her 70's and she has eight children. and the first seven are all married with children of their own t. seventh was born down syndrome. her husband passed away. linda devotes her time to her son to make sure he lives as abundant life as he possibly can. she's a hero to me. [applause]

i think of all the couples across america who have decided not to exchange gift this is year so their kids can have more christmas. i think of all the dads and moms working two jobs so they can buy the clothes for their kids the other kids are wearing at school so they won't stand out. we're a nation of big hearts who care about things bigger than ourselves, our families, our parents, our community, our schools, our churches, our state, our nation. it's who we are as a people. and this is a critical time for us. i know the people of virginia have very clear eyes. you can see the consequence of this election. i know as americans you have full hearts. there was a tv show sometime ago about a fictional football team that on the way out to the gridiron they would touch

assign as they walked out the door it said clear eyes, full hearts can't lose. and i'm convinced that we're going to come together on november 6 with your clear eyes and full hearts, we cannot lose, we've got to bring back america and keep this nation strong and build an economy that puts our people to work that guarantees a bright future for our children. i love you. i thank you. we're going to win with your help. thank you. thank you. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

[inaudible] ♪

♪

♪

♪

>> trying, with four days before it the election, the romney campaign will kick off eight rotatory. -- a road tour. we will be live from west chester, ohio at 7:30 p.m. eastern on c-span. later, the new penn state president rodney erickson. that is live at 1:00 p.m., eastern. >> these are the stories that your textbook left out.

they are real people in american history. very important moment in american history that we do not know about. programs that came 50 years before the mayflower sailed. , they were wiped out by the spanish. we have completely left the story out of the textbooks. the most famous woman in america, she was taken captive by indians in 1665. she killed her captors, and realized she could get a bounty for indian scalps. she made her way to boston where she was a heroine. they erected a statue to her. the first statue made to an american woman. >> cannas davis is our guest on sunday. he is the best-selling offcast

-- author of the "don't know much" series. >> i have watched shows on the weekends or they are interviewing politicians, and the politicians are talking about what they are doing in congress and different legislation and different opinions. >> most recently i watched the debates. i was at work and wanted to see it and i knew it was on c-span. >> it usually drills down on the more important issues. it is not antagonistic. it does not have an agenda it is trying to push. >> i agree. it seems fair. and you get the real story there, there is not a commentary. >> i go there to get the news and the facts and get more details. not just headlines or talking points. i want to learn something, not just be entertained.

>> it is not as exciting as cnn or fox, but you get the real story. i like it. darryl and mary lynch watch c-span. brought to you as a public service by your television provider. >> now, we joined president obama for his last event of the .aypacks i at the university of colorado at boulder, this is 35 minutes. [applause]

>> hi, voters! how are you guys? how are you fired up? are you ready to hear the >> everyone agrees gives savannah a big round of applause.

>> we mourn those who were lost our thoughts and prayers go out to the families who have been affected. we pledge to all of those whose lives have been turned upside down.

they have still got a long way to go to deal with this incredible storm. to help those whose lives have been turned upside down. some of the local officials in new york, they have a long way to go. to deal with this incredible storm. we have also been inspired these past few days. when disaster strikes, we see america at its best. the differences that consume us, they seem to melt away. we saw it in california with the fires this summer and the terrible tragedy in aurora. there are no democrats and republicans during a crisis. just fellow americans. [applause] you know, we see leaders of different parties working to fix what is broken. neighbors helping neighbors to cope with tragedy. communities rallying to rebuild. a spirit that says in the end,

we are in this together. we rise and fall as one nation. as one people. [applause] in boulder, that spirit has guided this country for more than two centuries. it has carried us through the trials and tribulations of the last four years. we were in the middle of two wars and the worst economic crisis since the great depression. today, because of the resilience of the american people, our businesses have created 5 million new jobs. the american auto industry is back on top. american manufacturing is growing at the fastest pace in

15 years. we are less dependent on foreign oil than any time in 20 years. home values, home construction is on the rise. and thanks to the service and sacrifice of the brave men and women in uniform, the war in iraq is over. the war in afghanistan is coming to an end. al qaeda has been decimated, osama bin laden is dead. so we have made real progress these past four years.

colorado, we know our work is not yet done. as long as there is a single american that want a job and can't find one, our work is not done. as long as there are families working harder and harder, but fallen further behind -- as long as there is a child somewhere in america languishing in poverty, our work is not yet done. [applause] our fight, our mission goes on because we know this nation can't succeed without a thriving middle-class. and strong ladders into the middle class for everybody that is willing to work hard and take responsibility.

our fight goes on because america has done best when everybody has a fair shot and everybody is playing by the same rules. that is what we believe and that is why you elected me in 2008. [four more years!]

that is why i want a second term as president of the united states of america. [cheers and applause] >> four more years! four more years! >> now we knew, from the beginning, that our work would take more than one year or even more than one term. the middle class was getting hammered long before the financial crisis hit. the economy has changed over the last 20 or 30 years. technology has made us more productive but it has also made a lot of good jobs obsolete. mobil trade brought us cheaper products but it also means jobs overseas in low-wage countries. american workers saw their paychecks getting squeezed. even when corporate profits rose and ceo salaries exploded. guaranteed pensions and health care starting to erode or disappear altogether. the rise of global competition, those are real.

we can't wish them away. here is what i know. and we can meet those challenges. we are americans. we have the world's best entrepreneurs, and tests, researchers, colleges, universities. we have the most innovative workers. we have everything we need to thrive in this new economy. there is not a country on earth that would not gladly trade places with the united states. to secure a future that we want for our kids and our grandkids, we have to make a choice right now. in five days, we will choose our next president. [applause]

and, boulder, it is more than just a choice between two candidates or parties. you will be making a choice between two fundamentally different visions of america. what were we return to the top- down policies that crashed the economy. don't boo, vote. vote. [applause] or a future built on a strong and growing middle class. we know what the choice needs to be. we are here because we believe if the country is back on the skills and ideas of its people, the jobs and businesses will follow. we believe the free market has been the engine of america's progress and we honor the risk takers and dreamers that drive the economy forward. we also understand that in this country, people succeed when

they have the chance that a good education or when they can learn new skills. they need workers. it is good for our country because of those folks get an education to start a new business. when we support research in medical breakthroughs or nanotechnology, new fields of study. new industries start here and they hire here. [applause] we don't believe government should poke its nose and everything we do. but we do believe this country is stronger at the markets work better when there are rules in place to protect kids from toxic

dumping and mercury pollution. when there are rules to protect consumers from unscrupulous credit card companies and mortgage lenders. we are convinced that we grow faster and the evidence is on our side. it rewards hard work and companies create jobs in america. we believe that quality health care, for everybody, and retirement, for everybody, they are not just achievable goals, but our values as a nation. that is what we believe. [applause] for eight years, we had a

president that actually share those beliefs. his name was bill clinton. you know, the interesting thing was, when he was elected, he asked the wealthiest americans to pay a little more so that we can reduce the deficit and make investment in education, research, and guess what? a bunch of folks running for congress at the time said this is going to hurt the economy. this is going to kill job creation. if that argument sounds familiar, one of those candidates has to be running for president right now. it turns out his bath at their math was just as bad back then as it is now. by the end of bill clinton's second term, americans created 23 million new jobs. poverty was doubt and the deficit became the biggest surplus in history.

colorado, we know the ideas. we know that our ideas work. we also know those that don't work. eight years after bill clinton left office. his policies were reversed. the wealthiest americans got tax breaks they did not need. companies enjoy tax breaks for shipping jobs overseas and insured that oil companies and wall street were given free rein. folks got to play by different set of rules than the rest of us. the result was falling in comes and record deficits and the slowest job growth in half a century. and an economic crisis that we have been cleaning up for the last four years. so here is the thing.

we have tested both theories. we have tested both visions. one worked really well. one worked really badly. romney has been using all of his formidable talents as a salesman to dress up the very same policies that toppled the country and that we have been cleaning up after, he is offering them up as change. he is saying he is the candidate of change. don't boo, vote. vote. let me tell you, colorado, we know what change looks like. we know what is going to help the middle class.

we know what is going to grow jobs and reduce the deficit. governor romney is not it. giving more power back to the biggest banks is not change. leaving millions without health insurance, that is not change. another -- [applause] another $5 trillion tax cut that favors the wealthy is not change. refusing to answer questions about details of your policies, not change. ruling out compromise by rubber stamping the tea-party policies, that does not change.

that is what we have to change. with all the commercials coming to people, sometimes it is hard to follow stuff and hard to know who to trust. after four years, you know me by now. [cheers and applause] you may not agree with every decision i have made. did you may be frustrated with the pace of change. i remind people when we did auto bailout, only 10% of the country approved of it, including folks in michigan and ohio, but you know where i stand. you know i am willing to make tough decisions, even when they

are not politically convenient. [applause] most importantly, you know i will fight for you and your family every single day. that is why i know what real change looks like, because i fought for it. i have the scars to prove it. you fought for it, too, and after all we have been through together, we cannot give of fat. -- give up that. let's picture what real change looks like. real change is a country where americans of every day in -- every age have the education and skills required.

we know they cannot do this alone. do not tell me hiring more teachers will not help this economy. [applause] do not tell me that students who cannot afford college can borrow money from their parents. that was not an option for me. i bet it was not an option for a lot of you. we should not be ending and why tax credits to pay for millionaire tax cuts. we should be making college more affordable for anyone willing to pay for it. -- to work for it. [applause] we should recruit 100,000 math and science teachers so high- tech jobs -- math and science teachers so high-tech jobs are not created in china but right here in colorado.

we should work with community colleges to train another 2 million americans with the skill businesses are looking for now, and that is part of my plan for the future. that is what changes. that is what is at stake in this election. change comes when we live up to america's legacy of innovation, where we make america the next home of scientific discovery when technological breakthroughs. i am proud i met on a mirror -- i'd bet on american ingenuity, and we are not just building cars. we are building better cars that will go twice as far on a gallon of gas. [applause]

today there are thousands of workers all across the country. not every technology we bet on will pan out. there is a future for clean energy it in america. i am not going to see the future to another country. i want to create jobs here in america. i want to support the new

technologies that will reduce carbon who in our atmosphere, that will make us less dependent on foreign oil. that is the future worth fighting for. [applause] real change is finally turning the page on a decade of war.

let's do some nation building here at home. we will pursue our enemies with the strongest military the world has ever known. it is time to use some of the savings from ending the wars in iraq and afghanistan to start repaying our debt, to start rebuilding america. that is part of our national security. right now we can put people back to work all across the country, fixing roads and bridges, making sure our schools are state of the art. let's put americans back to work doing the work that needs to be done. let's focus on our veterans, because nobody who fights for this country should have to fight for a job. [applause]

that is my commitment to you. that is part of keeping america strong. that is what is at stake in this election. change in which we reduce our deficit, and we can streamline agencies. we can get rid of programs that are not working, but if we are serious, we have to ask wealthy americans to go back to the tax rates they paid when bill clinton was in office. [applause] of budget is all about priorities. it is about what values do we care about. i am not going to turn medicare into a voucher to pay taxes. i am not going to allow this nation to be plunged into another battle over health-care reform and take millions of americans of health care and weaken the reforms we put in

place, including making sure young people can stay on their parents' plan just so insurance companies can jump back into the driver's seat. by the way, i am not going to allow politicians in washington to control health-care choices women should make it by themselves. i am not going to do that. we are not going to go backwards. we are going to go for words. -- forwards. [applause] colorado, we know what change is. we know what the future requires. we do not need a big government agenda or a small government agenda. we need a middle class agenda that will reward responsibility.

we need a common sense agenda that says when we educate a poor child, it helps us all, that says we donate suit science, her discovery will benefit all americans. we need an agenda that recognizes we do not just look out for ourselves. we look out for one another. we look out for future generations. we meet these obligations by working together. that is the change we need. that is what 2008 is about. that is why i need you to vote. [applause] let me be clear. achieving this agenda will not be easy. it will not be easy over the next four years.

back in 2008, when we talk about change, i told you i was not just talking about changing presidents. i was not just talking about changing parties. i was talking about changing politics. i read because the voices of the american people have been shut out of our democracy for to lawn -- for too long by politicians who think compromise is a dirty word and would say anything to win office and stay in office, and as we expected, and the protectors of the status quo are a powerful force in washington. every time we have fought to make change, they have fought back with everything they have got. they spend millions to stop us from reforming wall street and student loans. their strategy from the start,

refusing to compromise on ideas that traditionally democrats and republicans have supported. what they are counting on is the american people will be so worn down by the squabbles, so tired by the does function, that you wrote ward obstruction, either by voting for folks who claimed to -- you reword obstruction either by voting for folks who claim change, but putting people back who got us -- who advocate the policies that put us in this mess. their bets is on cynicism. they are counting on you not voting. my vote is on you. my bet is on the decency of the american people.

[applause] despite all the resistance, despite all the setbacks, we have done so much, and we never lost sight of the vision that you would have a voice, that there would be somebody fighting for middle-class americans, for folks working hard and struggling. sometime republicans in congress work with me to meet our goals, to open up new markets for american goods, to repeal "don't ask, don't tell." [applause] sometimes we have had big fights, like when we forced the banks to stop charging for student loans, which is how we make college more affordable for young people, like when we

force young people to abide by the toughest rules since the 1930's. so no one in america goes bankrupt just before it -- just because they get sick. i did not find those fights for any partisan advantage. i have shown my willingness to work with anybody of any party to move this country forward, but if you want to break the gridlock in congress, you will vote for leaders who feel the same way. you will vote for candidates like michael bennett and mark udall, who have shown themselves to work across party lines to get things done but also know there are some principles you do not

compromise, because the price in washington is cutting deals but will kick folks off of financial aid or get rid of planned parenthood, just to give millionaires a tax cut, that is not a deal worth having. i am not ready to give up. i am not ready to give up on that fight. i hope you will not be there. -- aren't either.

i hope you have some fight left in there. the folks at the very top in this country do not need another champion in washington. they will always have access to influence. they can hire lobbyists. the men and women i meet on the campaign trial every day. she needs a champion. a small restaurant owner who needs to expand -- who needs a loan to expand after the banks turned him down. he needs a champion. the cleaning staff working overtime in a hotel trying to save up to buy a first home or send their kids to college, they need a chance.

the auto worker who never thought he would work at a plant again and is now back building a great car and is full of pride and dignity, he needs a chance. the young teacher doing her best in an overcrowded classroom without a text book, she needs a chance. all those kids in inner cities and small farm towns in valleys of ohio, right here in boulder, kids dreaming of becoming scientists or doctors or engineers or entrepreneurs, they need a champion in washington. [applause] they need a champion, because the future does not have lobbyists.

it will never have as many lobbyists as in vested interests, but it is the dreams of those children that will be our saving grace, and that is why i need you. that is why i need you, to make sure their voices are heard, to make sure your voices are heard. we have come too far to turn back now. we have come too far. now is the time to keep pushing forward. to train all of our workers, to discover new energy, to restore our democracy, to make sure no matter who you are or where you come from, you can make it in america if you try. [applause]

in the middle of the great depression, f.b.r. reminded the country the failure is not an american have it, and in the strength of great hope, we must shoulder are common hope. that is the strength we need today. that is the hope i am asking you to share. that is the future in our strength. that is why i am asking for your vote. that is why i need your early voting tomorrow. that is why i need young people to turn up. that is why i need you to knock on more doors. that is why i need you to make some phone calls, and if you vote for me, we will win this election. we will finish what we started.

we will keep moving forward. we will renew those bonds and reaffirm the spirit that makes the united states of america the greatest nation on earth. god bless you. god bless the united states of america. remember to vote. [applause] ♪ >> ♪ here i am, signed, sealed, and delivered ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ >> is not adjusted program, but a promise. with my grandparents at that to see how medicare works at a very young age. they paid in throughout their working lives. we have to strengthen, and extended its solvency. send people off to the private health insurance with a piece of paper that does not keep up with costs. tough luck, it is out of your

own pocket. >> medicare is going to go bankrupt in the year 2024. i do not want medicare to go bankrupt. i want to fix medicare, but i want to make sure that seniors are protected. by the year 2000, it will have a choice, not a voucher as she says. i have never supported a voucher. what i support is a program that gives individuals age 50 and over a choice in 2024. >> through the weekend, watch more debates from key house, senate, and governor races. >> through election day, wash

our coverage of the presidential candidates. coming up live today on the c- span, "washington journal." looks at the battle ground states of ohio. live at 10:20 a.m., president obama holds a campaign rally in ohio. at 1:00, the new president of penn state's talks about leaving the school after the sex abuse scandal. coming up, a look at ohio as a battleground state. at 8:15, bob bennett, chairman of the ohio republican party talks about romney campaign is doing to win that state. doing to win that state.